About
2016 Fire Awards Winner
Champion
Anna Lerner, World Bank Group
About
With over a billion people that lack access to electricity, traditional alternatives have fallen short in terms of both environmental performance and reach. Pay-As-You-Go” (PAYGo) businesses, which fit within the broader classification of distributed energy service (DESCO) companies have emerged as a model for distributed energy systems, particularly solar. PAYGo companies deploy various lease-to-own or direct pay-per-use business models. Using digital and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) platforms, PAYG companies are able to offer accessible and flexible payment plans to customers that typically do not have credit histories or bank accounts. PAYGo business models are capital intensive and require significant amounts of working capital to scale. While the PAYGo industry has raised over USD 300 million capital since 2012, commercial level capital is still needed to finance the increasing capital demands of the sector, one of the key barriers being the lack of understanding of this asset class by commercial investors.
Developing Harmonized Metrics for PAYG Solar is an initiative to unlock access to commercial finance at scale for PAYG solar by developing industry-wide key performance indicators (‘KPIs’) and standardized reporting and analytics.
Barriers Addressed
- High risk perceptions amongst credit rating agencies and commercial investors
- Unknown underlying performance of end-customer
Approach
The project will establish and roll-out company and industry level KPIs to help unlock commercial finance for PAYG solar. Harmonized KPIs will enable (1) companies to better understand and manage portfolio health and business model performance, (2) financiers to identify investment opportunities and increase transparency on perceived and actual portfolio risk, (3) sector stakeholder to share and make better use of data for advanced analytics, and (4) public actors to improve enabling policy environments.
BNEF On-Stage Pitch
Details
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Key Impact Metrics
- Current market size: $60mn
- Current annual investment: $160mn
- Market opportunity: $2.88 bn in 2020
- Potential scale of intervention: $5bn in 2020
Most Recent Update
Led by the World Bank and GOGLA, the initiative has finalized standardized reporting frameworks, including harmonized data management for PAYG companies, released by GOGLA and Lighting Global in February 2017. Currently finalizing industry taxonomy and DataPlaybook for companies.
Investment Opportunities
To be announced.
News & Events
2016 Fire Winners Reach Major Milestones
October 19, 2016October 19, 2016 A blog post by Gloria Coleman, Senior Analyst, Climate Policy Initiative, Fire Awards Secretariat In the six months following the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit in New York, there have been several successful outcomes for the 2016 Fire Winners, which kicked-off implementation of work plans to achieve growth goals, with support of […]
Finance For Resilience Honors Four Winning Ideas To Accelerate Investments In Sustainable Cities And Clean Energy
April 5, 2016New York, April 5, 2016 – Finance for Resilience (FiRe), a platform to crowdsource and champion new ideas to accelerate finance for clean energy, low-carbon infrastructure, and sustainable cities, today announced the four 2016 winners of its annual competition at the Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF) Future of Energy Summit. Over 1000 energy-sector and finance leaders at the […]
Finance For Resilience Announces Eight Finalists In Clean Energy, Sustainable Cities, And Climate Resilience
March 3, 2016Winners to be announced at Bloomberg New Energy Finance Future of Energy Summit in New York on April 5 London, March 3, 2016 – Finance for Resilience (FiRe) today announced the selection of eight finalists in its annual competition for financial innovations to drive investments in climate-friendly projects and activities worldwide. At the 21st Conference of the Parties […]
Contact
Anna Lerner
The World Bank Group
alerner@worldbank.org
www.gogla.org